News and Feature Stories
The following news stories take an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at how NREL is advancing energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.
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May 2015
May 29, 2015
Rain or Shine, Students Keep Their Race Cars Going
Teams from 17 Colorado middle schools competed in annual solar- and battery-powered model car race.
May 18, 2015
African Delegation Exchanges Knowledge with Top Geothermal Experts
Tapping into 14,000 megawatts of geothermal potential in eastern Africa is the focus one new collaboration at NREL.
May 16, 2015
News Release: Winners for NREL’s 25th Solar and Lithium Ion Car Races
Sixty-three teams from 17 Colorado middle schools gathered at Dakota Ridge High School in Littleton today for the 25th Annual Junior Solar Sprint and Lithium Ion Battery car competitions. The day’s event drew nearly 200 students eager to show and race the solar- and lithium ion-battery powered vehicles they designed and built. The trophy for fastest solar powered model car was given to students from Stargate School (Thornton), “SG Solar 2.” The trophy for fastest lithium-ion powered model car was given to students from Bell Middle School (Golden), “BMS 2 Battery.”
May 14, 2015
News Release: NREL Supports China PV Investment and Financing Alliance to Open Capital for Solar Deployment
The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the China PV Investment and Finance Alliance (CPVFA) have formed a collaboration with the goal of opening wide-scale and diverse sources of investment for solar photovoltaic (PV) asset development in China.
May 13, 2015
EPRI and NREL Develop Standard Messaging to Facilitate DER Communication and Control
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and NREL have developed and tested a standard messaging platform for distributed energy resources (DER)--solar panels, wind turbines, microgrids, and battery storage--that use smart inverters to connect to the grid.
May 7, 2015
News Release: NREL Staff Recognized for Top Innovations as Lab Celebrates Record Patent Year
Today during its annual Innovation and Technology Transfer Awards ceremony, the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recognized the professionals behind the lab’s greatest innovations from the past year. NREL also celebrated the 43 U.S. patents issued in fiscal year 2014 (FY14), which is the largest number in lab history—nearly three times more than the previous year.
May 7, 2015
Webinar May 12: Overview of Station Analysis Tools Developed in Support of H2USA
This webinar will provide a basic introduction to two new analysis tools, the Hydrogen Refueling Station Analysis Model (HRSAM) and the Hydrogen Financial Analysis Scenario Tool (H2FAST). These tools were developed by Argonne National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, respectively, to address key technical and financial barriers to hydrogen fueling infrastructure deployment.
May 5, 2015
Boise State University Wins Collegiate Wind Competition 2015
Seven teams of students from across the country gathered at the National Wind Technology Center for a fierce blade-to-blade wind turbine rematch. At the Department of Energy Collegiate Wind Competition 2015 Engineering Contest, teams of undergraduates tested original designs of model wind turbines in an on-site wind tunnel and presented their technical designs to wind technology experts.
May 4, 2015
News Release: INL and NREL Demonstrate Power Grid Simulation at a Distance
The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Idaho National Laboratory (INL) have successfully demonstrated the capability to connect grid simulations at their two labs for real time interaction via the Internet. This new inter-lab capability enables the modeling of power grids in greater detail by allowing software and equipment anywhere in the world to establish a real-time connection to the unique facilities and capabilities available within the DOE national laboratory complex.
May 4, 2015
Report Targets Data on Avian Issues at Solar Energy Facilities
Understanding how birds are affected by utility-scale solar facilities is the focus of a new NREL report that was completed in partnership with Argonne National Laboratory.
April 2015
April 29, 2015
News Release: NREL Announces Participants for Executive Energy Leadership Program
The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has selected 21 leaders to participate in its 2015 Executive Energy Leadership program (Energy Execs), which empowers executives to integrate clean energy solutions in their communities.
April 27, 2015
News Release: NREL Report Estimates Market Potential of Shared Solar and Discusses Relevant Securities Regulations
Analysis from the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) finds that by making shared solar programs available to households and businesses that currently cannot host on-site photovoltaic (PV) systems shared solar could represent 32 to 49 percent of the distributed photovoltaic market in 2020.
April 22, 2015
The (Scientific) Flight of the Falcon
NREL and Laufer employ "Houdini" to teach radar how to detect birds near wind power plants.
April 21, 2015
Energy Department Announces New Tools for Hydrogen Fueling Infrastructure Deployment
The Energy Department has announced two new tools developed through H2USA to help address technical and financial barriers to hydrogen fueling infrastructure deployment. The tools, the the Hydrogen Financial Analysis Scenario Tool (H2FAST) and the Hydrogen Refueling Stations Analysis Model (HRSAM), were developed by NREL and Argonne National Laboratory respectively to address the key technical and financial barriers to hydrogen fueling infrastructure deployment. Additionally, NREL and Sandia National Laboratories published two task reports through the Hydrogen Fueling Infrastructure Research and Station Technology (H2FIRST) project, which supports H2USA by addressing critical R&D barriers to station deployment.
April 17, 2015
NREL and Partners Review Key Issues, Lessons Learned from U.S. Wind Integration Studies and Operating Practices
As a complement to DOE's recently released Wind Vision Report, a new paper summarizes the lessons learned from actual power systems operational practice, along with some of the most relevant and comprehensive wind integration studies conducted during the past several years.
April 16, 2015
NREL's ESIF Offers Equipment Testing on Grand Scale
NREL Power Systems Engineering Center Director Dr. Ben Kroposki spoke to Smart Grid Today about the unique capabilities of the Energy Systems Integration Facility.
April 14, 2015
NREL Teams with Southern California Gas to Launch First Power-to-Gas Project in U.S.
Demonstration projects will create and test a power-to-gas concept that uses electricity from renewable sources to make carbon-free hydrogen gas.
April 14, 2015
News Release: NREL Releases Report Describing Guidelines for PV Manufacturer Quality Assurance
The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has released an updated proposal that will establish an international quality standard for photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturing. The document is intended for immediate use by PV manufacturers when producing modules on an industrial scale so they can increase investor, utility, and consumer confidence in PV system performance.
April 13, 2015
Assuring Solar Modules Will Last for Decades
NREL heads international effort to toughen standards, ensure reliability of solar PV systems.
April 6, 2015
News Release: NREL Fills Key Leadership Role for Energy Systems Security and Resilience
Dr. Erfan Ibrahim has joined the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory as director of Cyber Physical Systems Security and Resilience for NREL’s Energy Systems Integration directorate. This critical area of research and development addresses the challenges of integrating clean energy sources into the national energy infrastructure.
March 2015
March 31, 2015
News Release: Industry-backed Best Practices Guides Aim to Lower Financing Costs for Solar Energy Systems
The Solar Access to Public Capital (SAPC) working group has released new best practices guidelines for solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, with the goal of increasing investor confidence in the long-term viability of PV systems. The guides — SAPC Best Practices in PV System Installation and SAPC Best Practices in PV Operations and Maintenance — were developed by SAPC subcommittees, each involving dozens of solar and finance entities.
March 19, 2015
Discovering Drop-In Biofuels to Leverage Petroleum Refineries
In the search for abundant and sustainable options to petroleum-derived fuels, biofuels stand out as a promising alternative. An NREL study is determining which biomass-derived oxygenates are most commercially feasible in drop-in fuels that are compatible with existing engines and fuel distribution.
March 19, 2015
News Release: NREL Director Announces His Retirement
Dr. Dan E. Arvizu today announced that he intends to retire at the end of September from his role as the Director and Chief Executive of the Energy Department’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado.
March 9, 2015
News Release: NREL Tool Finds Effective Behind-the-Meter Energy Storage Configurations
The Energy Department’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has used the Battery Lifetime Analysis and Simulation Tool (BLAST) to confirm that energy storage for demand-charge management can deliver attractive economic benefits. The analysis paired recent utility rate structures with historic data on solar photovoltaic electricity generation and commercial facility loads to evaluate 6,860 unique scenarios. The results revealed that, in the absence of incentives, small battery systems reducing peak demand by 2.5 percent offer the most attractive return on investment.
March 9, 2015
NREL's Newest PE-Licensed Engineers Commit to Sustainability
Engineers travel the globe to help save energy, improve lives.
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